Scathing obituary reveals abuse, neglect

I’ve learned in life that there are some things you just don’t do, and speaking ill of the dead is one of them. Not that I am superstitious, it's just done out of respect. But for the children of Marianne Johnson-Reddick, their mother’s obituary was about something more than saying goodbye.

Katherine Reddick and Patrick Reddick started their piece as a normal obituary:

“Marianne Theresa John­son-Reddick was born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is sur­vived by her 6 of 8 children…”

But they continued the informative obit with a more interesting tone:

“…whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way pos­sible. While she neglected and abused her small chil­dren, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child, was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.

“On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively ex­posed to her evil and vio­lent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after­life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviv­ing children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure.

“Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can re­vive our message that abus­ing children is unforgive­able, shameless, and should not be tolerated in a 'hu­mane society'. Our greatest wish now is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.”

The two children responsible told The Daily Mail in London that they are “unrepentant” and had felt a “sigh of relief” after her passing. They also told numerous news publications that their mother beat them up to three times daily and ran a brothel out of their home.

I’m not quite sure airing dirty laundry through a sacred channel was wise, but obituaries are a part of the closure process, and these two apparently have it now.